LogFAQs > #951006086

12.) Gemfire (Genesis, 1992)




This game was accessible to me in ways other games of its sort during its era weren't. This is essentially the same concept as Nobunaga's ambition or Romance of the Three Kingdoms, except this was set in a fantasy setting with all the fantasy trappings turned up to 11. And like I said with Sengoku Basara above, the most important thing to me with this sort of game is a sense of style which this game had it spades.

The idea is simple - the kingdom is a magical land ruled by a king who wields the power of the 7 crown jewels, 6 of which hold powerful wizards and the center one holds a dragon. The king Eselred is a tyrant and his daughter, in a desperate plea to end his rule, free the wizards from the crown and they go off in search of worthy rulers to displace Eselred. The main two, who happen to get the two most powerful wizards, are the mountain people led by Erin Blanche and the coastal forest dwellers led by Anders Lyle. The other four go off to other rulers, my favorite of whom was Garth who is just a kind old man whos entire territory is just one island off on its own. He is neither a good warrior, nor a good administrator and he is cornered by the powerful Anders. Playing as him is the game's hard mode and it was one of my great sources of pride as a kid that I was eventually able to win the game playing with Garth Chrysalis. Finally the king, Eselred, kept the dragon's gem and has by far the most territory. Defeating him takes skill cunning and patience.

The game is broken down into 4 scenarios which outline the canon way the war is meant to have gone - I would honestly kill to have had this game remade a few years later where this narrative could have been fleshed out better, but as a result my brothers and I would spend hours crafting headcanon as to how things played out in certain ways. To my great shock, years later I would learn a great deal of lore for the game exists in the form of the japanese players guide and a good deal of our headcanon ended up being true. Anyway the earlier in the game, the more territory the king has and the less everyone else has. By the 4th scenario the king is actually at parity with Erin and Anders and it's actually the most challenging scenario to win because while the King is older and kind of a shitty ruler, Erin and Anders have stupid good stats and triumphing over them as either Tudoria (who have 3 territories and one of the weaker gems but at least youre situated in an easily defended corner of the map)) or Divas (who has no wizard and is smack dab in the middle of the map sandwiched between eselred, erin and anders.)) is a very hard task.

The game is pretty ambitious featuring a combination of simple economics, macro-war planning and micro-war battles its somewhat reminiscent of an early form of the Total War series, but I have always found it more enjoyable if I am being honest.

Anyway at the end, you win free the land and hook up with the princess, yes even if you won as the sole female character. Pretty cool game and one I return to periodically.

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Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy